Upper Cape Tech headed to playoffs

While the postseason doesn't officially open until this weekend, the Upper Cape Tech Rams were playing for their playoff lives Saturday.

Matt Pulsipher

While the postseason doesn't officially open until this weekend, the Upper Cape Tech Rams were playing for their playoff lives Saturday.

After a resounding 41-8 victory over South Shore Voke, the Rams are playing their best football of the season and are prepared for the first season of the new playoff structure. The Rams (4-3) earned the Mayflower Small conference championship, the 7th seed in South Division 6 and will travel to Fall River to take on Diman Regional Voke Tech Friday night at 7. The Rams won the Division 5 title last season.

"One of our goals was to win the league, and now we can cross that off of the list," said head coach Mike Hernon. "I think we played our best and most complete game of the season. "

Quarterback Rich Semple had the game of his life, scoring touchdowns running, throwing and defensively with an interception return. Semple, the backup quarterback for the past two seasons, has filled in perfectly, and the offense hasn't missed a beat. "He played unbelievable, and is getting better every week," said Hernon. "He had the best game of his career. I can't say enough about him, and he has turned into a great leader."

Semple's touchdown pass to Issac Cardoso opened the scoring.

Jon Dumont also found the end zone three times on runs of 17, 76 and 10 yards, and also scored on a two-point conversion.

Kicker Alex Peterson rounded out the scoring going 3-for-5 on extra point attempts. "The game was kind of like a win or go home for us," said Hernon. "Hopefully we can keep things rolling going into next week."

Other players noted for their recent play are lineman Jack Rogers and defensive end/tight end Joe Fisher, both sophomores. "It takes some time to get used to the physical differences between freshman and varsity football," said Hernon. "But they really aren't sophomores anymore, and are playing great."

The Rams started the season slow with a pair of losses, but have gone 4-1 down the stretch, and are firing on all cylinders now. "We didn't get out of the gates great, but once we got into league play, we got that confidence back," said Hernon. "Every week we got a little better, and right now we are playing our best at the right time of the year."

The offensive line was a question mark at the start of the season with very little experience returning, but the unit has responded. "It takes a little while for the line to develop that trust with each other and to get their communication down, " said Hernon. "They are at that point now where they are certainly comfortable, and put together their best game as a unit last weekend."

Hernon calls No. 2 seeded Diman Voke (6-1, 4-1 Mayflower Large) "a big physical team, and will come right at us. I think we can use our speed to our advantage, but we have to be ready for the kind of physicality they are going to bring. It will be a tall task, but we will be ready."

Upper Cape defeated the Bengals in a 14-13 defensive struggle last season, so Hernon has a good idea of what kind of attack Diman will be bringing to the table. Dumont had a standout game last season going for 141 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.

While they will be underdogs in the game, Upper Cape is hoping to make a run at a back-to-back state championships.

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